Democratic Governor Mike Beebe has announced that he will veto the 20-week abortion ban passed by the Arkansas state legislature. Calling HB 1037 an unconstitutional law that would force Arkansas taxpayers to foot the costs of a legal challenge, Beebe said he simply could not sign the bill.

“When I was sworn in as Governor I took an oath to preserve, protect, and defend both the Arkansas Constitution and the Constitution of the United States,” Beebe said via press release. “I take that oath seriously.” Beebe then challenged lawmakers to remember that even pro-bono offers of legal services could cost the state should a legal challenge to an unconstitutional law succeed. “Lawsuits challenging unconstitutional laws also result in the losing party—in this case, the State—having to pay the costs and attorneys’ fees incurred by the litigants who successfully challenge the law. Those costs and fees can be significant,” he warned.

The willingness to veto the unconstitutional ban makes it much more likely the Beebe will also veto the stricter “heartbeat” ban, which would ban abortions at approximately 12 weeks, should it ever pass both chambers of the legislature.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is starting to feel the pressure from constituents when it comes to his support of massively unpopular bills, and the criticism is having its intended effect. In the wake of the tragic shooting in Connecticut, the Republican governor vetoed the state’s new gun law, one that would allow firearms in schools and daycare centers.

Sen. Green blames the veto on the fact that final legislation ended up “more restrictive” than they had intended. Also more restrictive than many legislators were comfortable with? H.B. 5711, the massive anti-choice omnibus bill that was rejected as being “too extreme” even by some politicians who don’t consider themselves to be pro-choice.

Promises of a veto began to surface just hours after a new poll showed that Snyder had become one of the most unpopular governors in the country. Public Policy Polls released new date showing a 28-point drop in the governor’s popularity, with only 38 percent of the state approving of his performance since the lame duck session concluded. Snyder is the third least popular governor in the nation, according to their polling, and runs behind all four potential Democratic challengers for 2014.

Does Snyder now recognize that Michigan residents are tired of legislators making health care decisions for women, and inserting themselves into women’s private lives? A veto on H.B. 5711 could be a good start to turning around his approval rating for his reelection campaign.

H.B. 5711, the Michigan omnibus anti-abortion “super bill” passed last week during the lame duck session of the state legislature, is a hefty 80-odd pages worth of restrictions and regulations on abortions, providers, clinics, and medical practices. It was overwhelmingly passed by both chambers of the legislature, but how many even knew what they were actually voting for?

Emily Magner of Social Work Advocacy Coalition of Michigan, shares a story on Eclectablog of her late November meeting with one local legislator, state Senator Howard Walker, who voted in favor of the bill. A bill which as of the end of November he couldn’t even be bothered to read.

We went on to talk specifically about how this bill will harm Michigan women, disproportionately women living in rural areas like ours. After we brought up a few of these points he put up his hands and said that he couldn’t really speak to those topics … he had not read the bill.

In front of him was a one paragraph synopsis I assume was from the Right to Life special interest organization who drafted the bill.

Howard Walker had not even bothered to read it.

We spoke with him for 20 minutes, the whole time he was dismissive, misinformed, and rude. When his handler told him, “5 more minutes,” I told him that I would never ask him to change his beliefs on abortion, I would protect his right to believe whatever he wanted, but I did want him to consider the harmful implications that this legislation would have on women and consider his ethical obligation to his field to leave his personal views at the door.

Before I could finish my sentence, he waved his hand dismissively and interrupted, “THIS ISN’T ABOUT WOMEN! THIS IS ABOUT PROTECTING FETUSES!”

Republican Governor Rick Snyder has less than two weeks to decide whether he is just as dismissive of women as Senator Walker is or whether he will veto the bill.

Note: Emily Kellogg Magner is an activist who originally published her story on her personal blog Musings of a Lady. She is currently studying social work.

]]>http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/12/18/michigan-politician-on-hb-5711-this-isnt-about-protecting-women-its-about-prote-0/feed/3In Kansas, Your Barber Is Free From “Unnecessary” Regulations, But Your Vagina is Nothttp://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/04/10/governor-brownback-protects-barbers-from-unnecessary-regulations-while-continuing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=governor-brownback-protects-barbers-from-unnecessary-regulations-while-continuing
http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/04/10/governor-brownback-protects-barbers-from-unnecessary-regulations-while-continuing/#commentsTue, 10 Apr 2012 07:16:02 +0000Governor Brownback is protecting a person’s right to give a cut and a clean shave without the interference of needless government intrusion...but will continue to regulate women's vaginas.

]]>This week, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback used his veto pen to protect the rights of citizens to be free from unnecessary and burdensome regulations.

In the Governor’s veto message he stated:

I intend not only to prevent this small increase of government interference in the marketplace, but also to send the clear message that Kansas will not accept unnecessary government burdens on the free market.

Governor Brownback made this bold statement and wielded his veto pen to protect the rights of… barbers. That’s right, he is protecting a person’s right to give a cut and a clean shave without the interference of needless government intrusion. But wait… the state Board of Barbering wants the government to interfere, and has approved legislation requiring licensing of barbers. From the Associated Press…

The administrator for the state Board of Barbering, which sought the legislation, was disappointed. One Democratic critic of the Republican governor called the veto “rather bizarre,” and another noted the governor’s support for additional regulations for abortion clinics, suggesting Brownback’s policy was “pro-business if it’s the kind of business we like.”

The bill Brownback vetoed would have required ex-barbers and former barber-school instructors to take a licensing exam again if they’d been out of the business for two years.

The Governor is taking a stand and making a statement against government bureaucracy and red tape! It doesn’t take a genius to see the hypocrisy in this statement coming from a Governor who signed into law the most sweeping abortion clinic regulations within the nation. These regulations imposed the following on abortion clinics… specified room temperatures, square footage requirements, and square footage of janitor’s closets, among others needless requirements.

The regulations were so sweeping that their passage and implementation forced two out of three of Kansas’ remaining abortion providers to shut their doors. These clinics subsequently brought suit and a judicial injunction was swiftly granted, enabling these physicians to keep their doors open as they fight their way through court. The government bureaucracy and red tape has contributed to the attorney fees incurred by the state of Kansas… fees that continue to rise as a result of the multitude of court challenges created by the TRAP law and several other new and unnecessary restrictions upon women’s health.

Anti-choicers would certainly claim that an abortion presents a greater responsibility for state oversight than a shave and a haircut, but the specious regulations contained within TRAP laws belie this claim. The size of a janitorial closet in an abortion clinic has no more to do with making abortion safe than does the number of stripes on a barber’s pole guarantee the quality of a barber’s cut.

]]>Archbishop Tutu Calls on Senate to Pass PEPFAR The heat is rising on Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn to relenquish efforts to block the passage of PEPFAR reauthorization. Kaiser Netowrk reports that South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu called on the Senate to make "God’s world a better place" and to speed the passage of the legislation.

PEPFAR has "already saved millions of lives, and the new legislation has the
potential for sustaining a response to build on all of the gains that have
already been achieved," Tutu said. He added, "I plead to the leaders, the
members of Congress — please, please, for the sake of the world, for the sake
of the future, expedite the passing of the relevant legislation."

Senator Coburn and six other Senators are blocking the legislation from passage in the Foreign Relations Committee and have, so far, refused to compromise their hardline stance on forcing 55% of the bill’s $50 billion in funding to go toward treatment, including antiretroviral drugs, at the expense of funding much needed prevention efforts at family planning clinics.

Should We Concede Defeat in Quest for an HIV Vaccine? Udo Schuklenk, professor of philosophy at Queen’s University, asks the question in today’s Globe and Mail that some in the field are starting to answer in the affirmative.

Proponents of the defeatist stance, including Homayoon Khanlou and Michael
Weinstein of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the largest provider of HIV-AIDS
medical care in the United States, argue that instead of continuing to squander
hundreds of millions of dollars on a futile vaccine quest, the focus should
shift to spending on prevention, testing and treatment.

Schuklenk points out that for every person being treated in the developing world five new people are infected. This, he says, is a numbers game we cannot win with prevention efforts alone, a vaccine might be the only way we can get the pandemic under control. The search for a miracle cure, though, has been long and mostly fruitless with more than 150 recent prevention trials including vaccines and microbicides failing to protect participants against infection. Schuklenk offers that Winston Churchill’s remark, "Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never…" seems to be the only response to the question of giving up in the age of AIDS.

"I will not support a late-term abortion ban that fails to protect
both the life and health of mothers," Granholm said in a statement to
Senate leaders. "Medical professionals oppose this legislation because
it does not contain valid exception for the health of the mother. They
believe that medical decisions of this nature should be made by women
and their doctors, not politicians. I agree."

The house bill states explicitly that "partial-birth abortions are
never medically necessary to preserve the mother’s health and the
procedure confuses medical, legal and ethical duties for physicians who
have the responsibility to preserve and promote life." The bill passed
with nearly a 2-1 margins in the Senate and better than 2-1 in the
House. The governor vetoed the Senate version of the bill and now
House members will likely send their version of the bill to the
governor with the knowledge that there are enough votes to override a
veto.